Greetings from Austria! An Overview of Austrian Educational Experience with Highlights on Grading Practices in German-Speaking Countries
Wisconsin Association of International Educators (WAIE) Eau Claire, WI, 2015
Aleksander Morawski Johannes Schmied Agenda
• Education Systems Overview – Austria, Germany, Switzerland • Secondary & Post-Secondary Level Grading in Germanic Countries • German language lesson ECTS
• The ECTS credit system has been implemented in all German speaking countries. It is up to the Universities if they convert all their degree programs into Bachelor and Master programs.
1 ECTS = 0.5 credit (US) Germany Germany (Secondary) • 10 years compulsory • 2-3 years of upper secondary (college prep) – Gymnasium • Abitur Examination • Vocational Programs – Berufschule (Part-Time Vocational School) – Berufsfachschule (Full-Time Vocational School) – Fachoberschule (Technical School) Germany (Grading)
University and Post-Secondary Upper Secondary (Gymnasium) Scale Grade Description US Grade Scale Grade Description US Grade Sehr Gut Sehr Gut 1.00 - 1.50 A 13.00 - 15.00 A (Very good) (Very good) 1.51 - 2.50 Gut (Good) A 10.00 - 12.99 Gut (Good) A Befriedigend Befriedigend 2.51 - 3.50 B 7.00 - 9.99 B (Satisfactory) (Satisfactory) Ausreichend Ausreichend 3.51 - 4.00 C 4.00 - 6.99 C (Sufficient) (Sufficient) Nicht Ausreichend 1.00 - 3.99 Mangelhaft (Poor) D 4.01 - 6.00 F (Not sufficient) Ungenügend 0.00 F (Insufficient)
Germany (Post-Secondary)
• Bachelor, Master, Doctorate • Diplom- Programs (pre-Bologna Process) • Universities, Fachhochschulen (Universities of Applied Science), Berufsakademien (Dual System) Germany (Post-Secondary) • Tuition depends on the state: some do charge some tuition many don’t (also depends on the political situation of each state) • Pre requisite for being accepted at popular degree programs: the “Numerus Clausus” • = Numerus clausus ("closed number" in latin) - used to limit the number of students to the maximum feasible in some particularly sought-after areas of studies. • The better the “abitur” grades of a student the higher
the chances to be accepted to specific degree A5 programs Slide 10
A5 (& the longer the waiting period for acceptance will be) Administrator, 3/9/2015 “Numerus clausus” for a University in Berlin
Austria Austria (Secondary) • 9 years compulsory education • General Secondary (Allgemeinbildende Höhere Schule)
• Lower-secondary (grades 5-8) = Unterstufe • Upper-secondary (grades 9-12/13) = Oberstufe – Gymnasium or Realgymnasium – Vocational Secondary (Berufsbildende Höhere Schule) • Berufsbildende mittlere Schule (no matura) • Berufsschule und Lehre (Vocational training school) Austria (Grading)
Scale Grade Description US Grade
1.00 - 1.99 Sehr gut (Very Good) A
2.00 - 2.99 Gut (Good) A-
3.00 - 3.99 Befriedigend (Satisfactory) B
4.00 - 4.99 Genügend (Adequate) C
Nicht genügend 5.00 - 5.00 F (Unsatisfactory) Continued on next page
Austria(Post-Secondary) • Bachelor 3 years, Master 2 years (minimum) A3 • No Tuition • Students do not need to apply for a degree. Students “sign up” by showing their “Maturazeugnis/Reifepruefungszeugnis” • Due to “Numerus Clausus” refugees from Germany there are entrance exams for medicine degrees Slide 20
A3 except you exceed your minimum amount of years to finish your degree by more than two semester… each additional semester cost 363Euro approx. 400$ Administrator, 3/9/2015 Degree Certificate (Master)
Transcript Notes
Note Grading Scale Switzerland Language Distribution Switzerland (Secondary)
• Cantonal – Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education / Schweizerischen Konferenz der kantonalen Erziehungsdirektoren provides guidelines for contaent and structure • Typically 9/10+3/4 system of lower + upper secondary (varies by canton) – 7+6 system in German-language areas • Leaving Certificate = Matura Examination (Maturitätszeugnis) – Includes Grundlage, Schwerpunkt, Ergänzungs-level, and Maturitätsarbeit Switzerland (Grading)
Most Common Higher and Secondary 1-6 system, minimum pass is 4.00
Scale Grade Description US Grade
6.00 Ausgezeichnet/SehrGut (Excellent/Very Good) A
5.00 Gut (good) B
Universität Bern, 2007 4.00 Genügend / Mittelmässig (Average/Satisfactory) C
3.00-2.00 Ungenügend (Unsatisfactory) F / D
0-1.00 Schlecht F
Most Common Higher 1-10 system, minimum pass is 5.00
Scale Grade Description US Grade
10-9 Ausgezeichnet/SehrGut (Excellent/Very Good) A
7-8 Gut (good) B
6-5 Genügend / Mittelmässig (Average/Satisfactory) C
4-2 Ungenügend (Unsatisfactory) F / D
0-1.00 Schlecht F
Switzerland (Post-secondary)
• Binary (Academic and Higher Professional Sectors) • Bachelor, Master, Doktor Structure – 3, 1.5-3, 3-4 years • Diplom (Traditional Programs) – 4-6 years • Tuition: 600 -700 CHF/semester • Due to “Numerus Clausus” refugees from Germany there are entrance exams for medicine degrees Higher Education Ladder
Personal experiences: Austrian Education system
• Secondary Education: grades depend mostly on exams, homework & presentation equal about 10-20% of grade – One has to be a very outstanding student in order to achieve the best grade on all classes at the end of a school year (=equivalent to a GPA of 4.0) e.g. In a high school class out of 30 students on average maybe one student would achieve. – Achieving an overall grade of 1-1.50 equals a “sehr guter Erfolg” which means the student completed the year “with highest honors” – Achieving an overall grade of 1.51-2 equals a “guter Erfolg” which means a student completed the year “with above the ordinary grades” Personal experiences: Austrian Education system • It is significantly difficult to graduate from a upper secondary school with “Matura” Austria
A4 Slide 37
A4 The rest of the students complete a vocational school which enable to have a successful career without requiring college education e.g as a mechanic, electrician, hair cutter or cook. Administrator, 3/9/2015 Personal experiences: Austrian Education system • Upper secondary education is oftentimes the highest level of education Personal experiences: Austrian Education system Personal experiences: Austrian Education system
• Public primary, secondary and tertiary schools are fully funded by the state
• College loans are very rare because the government hands out scholarships for student who's parents cant afford to pay for their children's education – and by education cost Austrians mean the costs for room and board
• Due to free tertiary education especially in “high in demand” degrees such as business, law or medicine the drop out rates are very high and study times can be up to twice as long as in the US, due to overfull/overbooked classes and drop out exams Personal experiences: Austrian Education system
• Tertiary Education: Grades depend mostly on exams (students are expected to study on their own throughout the semester and are rarely given homework-assignments, active participation, presentations and papers account only to about 10-20% of the grade)
• Achieving the best grade on all classes at the end of an academic year very challenging and less than 1% of students achieve this goal
• University degree programs in general are very selective, hence only 20% of Austrian have a college degree (vs. 40% in the US) German Language Lesson
German English Zeugnis certificate Abschlußzeugnis Graduation certificate Reife general qualification for university entrance Reifeprüfungszeugnis / Matura (in High school diploma Austria) / Abitur (in Germany) “Numerus Clausus” (in Germany) closed number/cap on enrolment Bachelorzeugnis Undergraduate certificate (tertiary education) Masterzeugnis/Diplomprüfungszeugnis Graduate certificate (tertiary education) “mit ausgezeichnetem Erfolg Completed studies successfully “with highest honors” bestanden” (=part of a certificate) “mit gutem Erfolg bestanden” Completed studies successfully “with above the ordinary grades” (=part of a certificate) “mit Erfolg bestanden” Completed studies successfully (=part of a certificate) Sponsionsbescheid Symbolic Graduation Certificate (tertiary education) German Language Lesson
German English Grade: “Sehr gut/1” Excellent, outstanding performance Grade: “Gut/2” GOOD: above the average standard but with some errors Grade: “Befriedigend/3” SATISFACTORY: generally sound work with a number of notable errors Grade:”Genuegend/4” SUFFICIENT: performance meets the minimum criteria Grade: “Nicht genuegend/5” UNSATISFACTORY: Substantial improvement necessary/requirement of further work Notendurchschnitt (=not shown GPA on Austrian degrees) Greetings from Austria! An Overview of Austrian Educational Experience with Highlights on Grading Practices in German- Speaking Countries
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